This invention relates to pressure testing equipment, and more particularly pertains to a hydrostatic test system for subjecting a number of test specimens to a predetermined test pressure for determining when each test specimen develops a leak condition.
Any article, item, or workpiece subjected to some kind of pressure, such as air or a liquid, should be tested to determine its allowable working pressure, its psi. rating, and its estimated working lifetime when subjected to any given working pressure. The workpieces requiring testing can include a wide variety of pipes, such as drill pipe, gas pipe, plastic pipe, as well as plastic containers and glass bottles. The test system should include a number of test stations for simultaneously testing a number of workpieces with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability.
For example, the Fujii et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,986 discloses a pneumatic pipe leak tester which includes several conduits each of which is connectible to a pipe to be tested. The Fujii et al. patent also includes a pressure transducer for producing an output signal and a detector actuated by the transducer for producing a leak signal.
However, there remains a need for a test system which can simultaneously test a large number of workpieces or test specimens, has a high degree of accuracy and repeatability, and is modularly designed in order to vary the number of test stations and accommodate a number of different electrical and mechanical pressure sensing devices.